Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Early the next morning.

Berg woke up from his sleep right on time.

As a hunter, he had to maintain a stable sleeping schedule to make sure he always had enough energy.

After getting dressed, Berg began preparing his hunting equipment.

First, he restrung the longbow whose bowstring he had removed the night before, then carefully applied some oil to it.

After that, he inspected every arrow in his quiver to make sure the shafts were straight.

Whenever he found one that was slightly bent, he would heat it over a flame before carefully straightening it by hand.

Once he finished checking his bow and arrows, he took out a sharp iron knife and carefully sharpened its edge.

He then placed it inside a sheath made from animal hide and tucked it into a hidden compartment along the right leg of his trousers.

If any prey managed to break through the barrage of arrows and get close to him, this knife would be his final lifeline.

“It’s already been three years since I became a Hunter, but I still have no idea how to advance my profession...”

Thinking about this, the young man adjusting his bowstring let out a long sigh.

Just as his deceased father had once warned him, the nobles and the Church did not want too many high-ranking professionals to appear.

Because of that, knowledge regarding profession advancement was tightly controlled.

For ordinary people, that blockade was like an enormous chasm that filled them with despair.

Only a very small number of fortunate people could somehow cross it.

And Berg clearly was not one of those lucky people.

Or rather...

Until a few days ago, he had thought that perhaps he was.

After all, he had rescued a prince who had fallen into danger.

Not just any prince, either.

It was the heir of a superpower with 1.4 billion citizens.

Even the wildest songs sung by drunken bards would never contain such an absurd coincidence.

“I saved his life, and he’s even eaten the prey I hunted for several days. Isn’t it a little too much that he still refuses to accept me as his attendant...?”

The more Berg thought about it, the more resentment rose inside him.

He felt as though his entire existence, from his soul to his body, had been looked down upon.

Without realizing it, the strength in his hands increased.

He only came back to his senses when the bowstring nearly snapped.

“Calm down. Calm down.”

Only then did Berg realize that he had lost control of himself.

He hurriedly adjusted his breathing.

For a hunter, the most important thing was to remain calm at all times.

The moment a hunter lost control of his emotions, the positions of hunter and prey could instantly reverse.

After taking several deep breaths, the emotions on Berg’s face gradually disappeared.

His expression became calm and still, like undisturbed water.

“Once we deal with this agricultural tax, I’ll leave the village and head to the city-state to search for an opportunity to advance.”

Berg silently made up his mind.

His dream was to walk the path of the strong.

He wanted to hunt stronger and stronger creatures and feel his heart pounding so violently during every hunt that it almost leaped out of his chest.

There was no way he could remain in this tiny village forever.

During his three years here, he had shared countless animals he had hunted with the villagers.

And now, he had even brought back a stranded prince.

That should already be enough to repay the kindness the village had shown him when they first took him in.

“For Sister Anliya’s sake, even if that prince is stingy, he should at least help the village solve its tax problem.”

Berg thought carefully about it.

After all, if Xia Mingyu took Sister Anliya’s body and then still refused to help with something so simple...

Then no matter how noble Xia Mingyu’s identity was, Berg would fire an arrow straight at his head.

He wanted to see whether the blood of nobility was really blue, just like the rumors claimed.

After finishing his preparations, Berg was just about to head toward Howling Wolf Forest to hunt.

Knock, knock.

At that moment, someone knocked on his door.

“Strange. No one should be coming here at this hour.”

Although Berg was confused, he still went over and opened the door.

Standing quietly outside was a handsome young man with black hair and black eyes.

And the long string of white words floating above his head was particularly eye-catching.

“Your Highness!”

Berg instinctively started lowering himself onto one knee, but Xia Mingyu immediately stopped him.

Xia Mingyu calmly said,

“You want to become my attendant, right? Then can you help me do something first?”

Berg’s eyes immediately lit up.

“I would be honored, Your Highness.”

Seeing that the situation had taken a turn for the better, Berg agreed without the slightest hesitation.

...

Under the dazzling sunlight, a winding dirt road passed through the dense forest and stretched toward the distant horizon.

Inside a thick patch of bushes not far from the road, Xia Mingyu frowned as he looked toward Berg beside him.

“Are you sure this road is the only necessary route to Fruit Basket Village?”

Berg nodded.

“Yes, Your Highness. If they don’t take this road, they would have to make a huge detour through the forest to reach the village.”

He then asked,

“Your Highness, what are we going to do next?”

Xia Mingyu’s gaze turned cold.

“Hide.”

“And keep your bow ready.”

“We’ll wait for our prey to come to us.”

Someone who did not want others to live...

Had no right to expect to live peacefully himself.

...

“Summer has arrived, and the cuckoo sings aloud~”

“Seeds begin to sprout, and flowers bloom across the grass~”

Mills Hunter hummed a recently popular tune while guiding the horse beneath him.

The horse pulled a carriage slowly along the road.

Mills was a traveling merchant.

Like most Clay people, he had grown up surrounded by business.

Under the influence of his parents, he had started learning about trade from a very young age.

At first, he had merely worked as a small vendor selling things like beer.

It was only after becoming an adult that he finally said goodbye to his family and began traveling on his own merchant journey.

He was not an only child.

Besides him, his father had two older sons.

According to the traditions of the Clay people, Mills would need to accumulate more wealth than his eldest and second-eldest brothers combined if he wanted his father to choose him as the heir when the family business was eventually passed down.

Because of that, Mills had always lived under enormous pressure to make money.

Fortunately, he had recently discovered a business opportunity that could make him rich.

The method was simple.

He only needed to pay a tiny deposit to villages that mainly grew fruit.

Then, after wasting a little saliva making grand promises, those foolish and brainless villagers would genuinely believe him.

They would reject offers from other merchants and eagerly wait for Mills to return with the supposedly high price he had promised.

Mills, meanwhile, would deliberately wait until the fruits were almost ready for harvest before finally showing up.

At that point, no matter how ridiculously low the price he offered, the villagers would have no choice but to grit their teeth and accept it.

After all, they still had taxes to pay to their lord.

And if those poor serfs failed to pay their taxes...

They would truly be dragged away to the Slave Capital.

There, they would lose all dignity and status, becoming slaves who would eventually be worked to death.

Using this method, Mills had multiplied his original capital several times over in only a few months.

Even more miraculously, he had managed to advance his profession.

He had gone from the ordinary profession of [Merchant]...

To the extraordinary profession of [Lie Merchant].

Every night, whenever Mills stood in front of a mirror and looked at the green words floating above his own head, he became so excited that he would toss and turn in bed, unable to sleep.

Of course, this business strategy did not work every single time.

Sometimes, he encountered villages that were so foolish they could not understand their own situation.

Fruit Basket Village, where he was heading now, was one such place.

A few days ago, Mills had merely offered them a price equal to one-third of the normal market purchase price.

But the villagers had surrounded him with eyes red like rabbits, looking as though they wanted to tear him apart alive.

If the advancement of his profession had not strengthened his body somewhat, allowing him to escape...

He might really have been beaten to death by those violent peasants.

“They should have come to their senses by now.”

Mills smiled to himself.

“It’s almost time for them to pay their taxes. I’m their only lifesaver now.”

He narrowed his eyes while calculating the profits in his mind.

“This time, I’ll offer one-fourth of the market price...”

He paused.

Then his smile became even wider.

“No.”

“One-fifth.”

“If that still isn’t enough for them to pay their taxes, they can sell themselves to me as slaves.”

“A lot of slaves died during the riots a few days ago, so slave prices in the Slave Capital have been rising quite nicely lately.”

Mills carefully calculated the business opportunity in his head.

Whoosh!

Suddenly, the sharp sound of something cutting through the air rang out.

An arrow flew from a patch of bushes not far away.

It struck the horse beneath Mills directly in the eye.

The horse let out a deep, agonized cry.

Its entire body violently convulsed before crashing heavily onto the ground.

Mills was thrown from the horse and slammed onto the dirt road.

Shocked and furious, he immediately shouted,

“Who?! Who fired that arrow?!”